Solimine Finally Ready to Build at Boulderwood

After nearly 15 years of planning, protests and patience, David Solimine, Jr. is finally ready to start building Boulderwood.

The site for the controversial housing subdivision is located on 60 acres off Bartholomew Street in South Peabody.

Solimine, who owns the land and will develop the project, said Thursday that he expects to begin flagging wetlands and other conservation areas on the property within the next few days, the first step toward the eventual construction of 110 new homes that will partially straddle the Lynn/Peabody line.

Once the protection of wetlands is completed, workers will clear trees from future home plots in the densely wooded portions of the land and begin drilling and blasting in the middle of the site moving down toward Bartholomew Street.

“First, we have to clear the trees from the areas we will be building and we anticipate the site work will begin shortly thereafter,” Solimine said. "Our first order has to be the identification and protection of the wetlands up there; I anticipate that will start up in the next few days.”

Poor housing market main delay in recent years

Although the project has been clear of legal hurdles since 2007, Solimine has been hesitant to build on the site due to a poor housing market. He has sat quietly on the plans and the permits for over five years, but says he now feels the market has shown enough of a turn to begin executing his vision, albeit slowly at the start.

“We are looking at getting the first few homes completed in the next two years, but the pace in which we build hinges on the hope of the market becoming stronger,” he said. “There is always a stronger market for the sale of new homes, and our hope is to continue to see the market turn around. We are going to go slow and steady here at the start, that is the plan.”

Solimine has experienced his share of adversity since first bringing his plans for Boulderwood to the city Planning Board in 1999. His proposals have been rejected and modified several times over by officials in both Peabody and Lynn, as neighbors expressed concerns over everything from traffic issues to density and land conservation.

There was even a three-way agreement at one point with two other nearby developments to build a new water tower, but that dissolved as the other two projects were either severely downsized or did not materialize.

Eventually, Solimine won out over court appeals in 2007 as well as a renewed attempt at the time by the City Council to hold up the project on procedural, but at that point Solimine put it on the back burner due to concerns over the market.

Working with the neighbors

With work set to begin next week, Solimine called a meeting Wednesday evening on the site to share details of the plan with neighbors and address concerns about the project moving forward. He says he is sympathetic to those who want to keep the land free of development, but is quick to point out that without development many of the things in which neighbors are familiar would not exist today.

“With development you really have two sides, those who are against it or those who are apathetic toward it,” he said. “The meeting with the Lynn neighbors was to address concerns and let them know what the plans are and that we are here and they can get a hold of us with any questions. A lot of folks have very legitimate concerns that we will do our best to address. Others simply just want to see the land remain woods with no development.

“It is a privately owned property that has been permitted for development and we are going to develop it. It is just the sort of thing that comes along with developing land, there are always going to be those who feel like it should not be developed. But someone built the house they live in, too. We have 110 homes going in on 60 acres of land. That is about two homes per acre. That is not very densely settled. I think it is a very reasonable project with very reasonable density,” Solimine said.

Another potential hurdle for Solimine, however, is the threat from Lynn City Councilor Wayne Lozzi to look into filing suit through Lynn city attorneys to hold up the small portion of the project that would sit on a portion of land just over the line in Lynn. That would be at Sunset Drive, which is not far from Lynnfield Street (Route 129) heading toward Goodwin Circle.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Lozzi accused Solimine of lying to the city about his intent for the parcel of land in Lynn.

Solimine says everything he has done is legal and stands by the signatures he has from members of the Planning Board in both Lynn and Peabody.

“I am always concerned when somebody threatens to sue me,” Solimine said. “But this project has cleared every hurdle it needs to clear so I feel there are no grounds for that.”

As is the case with any project, Solimine says he knows not every decision will be a popular one, but he has stressed to residents and city leaders in both communities his commitment to the project and his desire to listen and address all concerns.

“The project is fully permitted. It took us 15 years to get to this point, but we are here,” he said. “I told the Lynn neighbors yesterday and I have told the folks in Peabody the same thing. Any concerns they have we are here. We are easy to find. I think people will realize that we do what we say we are going to do and when all is said and done most of the time people find they are happy with the results."

City officials focusing on qualify of life, safety

Ward 1 City Councilor Barry Osborne is still disappointed Boulderwood is rolling along again, but at this point is focusing more on ensuring the project is developed responsibly and neighbors' concerns are addressed.

"We just want to make sure if he does start it, he does it responsibly," Osborne said.

"We were kind of spoiled by the economy [the past few years] and hoped he would go away," Osborne said, but obviously that didn't happen. He still thinks the development is too big for the neighborhood, but points out Solimine has kept all his permits and approvals current.

"He's been right up front with us...and responsive to concerns," which is to Solimine's credit, Osborne said.

Osborne said he did meet with Solimine and Mayor Ted Bettencourt to discuss concerns as well and plans to meet with Bettencourt again next week.

Osborne said he's asked Bettencourt to consider purchasing some of the land to try and downsize it further. Given the economy and resources Solimine is planning to invest in the project, however, Osborne feels it is a long shot, but still one worth trying. He said Solimine was receptive to the idea.

"We want to look at all the options we have as a city," Bettencourt said. He said there were previous discussions at to consider purchasing land from Solimine and he [Bettencourt] is keeping that door open. He said he has not discussed that possibility with Solimine yet and there are specific proposals out there, but plans to follow up with Solimine on that.

For Solimine's part, he says he is planning to build single-family homes valued in the $300,000 range and ultimately invest $50 million to $70 million in Boulderwood.

Barring any actual proposal to further downsize the project -- Solimine agreed several years ago to reduce it by about 15 houses to 110 -- Osborne, city officials and neighbors for sure will keep a close eye on site work, construction and any related traffic impacts.

Osborne said it's some small consolation that Solimine is only planning to build 10-15 homes a year rather than "banging it all out at once." He hopes Solimine continues in that vein rather than leveling the entire site now.

Osborne said he is aware of concerns from the city of Lynn, but hasn't directly conferred with city officials there.

Osborne said he continues to speak with some of the more outspoken neighbors who have opposed the project over the years and who continue to keep him apprised of neighborhood concerns.

Bettencourt notes the life of the project will span several years and says he will continue discussing all concerns and options. Solimine did meet with Bettencourt a few weeks ago to brief him on the timelines and overall scope of Boulderwood.

He said his job as mayor now is to ensure the project is done responsibly and keep a close eye on safety issues, particularly traffic, and quality of life for the neighbors.

"I'm happy to see that the developer thinks Peabody is a desirable place to live," Bettencourt said, asked whether he felt the development was beneficial at all to the area, but he's not convinced Bartholomew Street is the best place for that development.

He said Boulderwood may turn out to be a good neighborhood for South Peabody, but that's also why the city needs to keep a close eye on the development to ensure it does.

Mayor wants to take look at Bartholomew Street

One of the other things Bettencourt says he seriously wants to look at now is Bartholomew Street itself, and possibly widening it.

The narrow width of the roadway -- it's only 14 feet across at the entrance to Boulderwood -- has always been a concern for the project's opponents as well as the Police Department. They say it, combined with speed, has led to numerous accidents over the years, at times with cars flying around turns and crashing into houses butting right up next to the road.

All agree the road was never designed for the amount of traffic it sees now; in fact, it was originally a dirt path out to summer cottages and farms near the pond, but eventually just paved through to provide access at Lynn and Lynnfield streets. An obstacle to widening the street, however, is precisely that there are now homes that sit right next to the edge of the roadway.